A Dress Falled With Embroidery

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My husband and I went on a lunch date on this day. It was not cool enough for the sweater, so I wish I had set it down.

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I also wish I had more pictures of the dress itself, but my photographer that day was all about the closeups.

I hate closeups.

I love my photographer.

You will just have to bear with me.

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Or bare with me. Look at the cute Free People bandeau bra (bralette post can be found here) I simply put over a regular bra for a pretty lace peek-a-boo moment.

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I found this dress at my local Nordstrom Rack for a screaming deal. I could not believe nobody had scooped it up (it is sold out. I could only find one size medium of a similar dress. It is on sale for $30 from $148 on Free People here).

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The embroidered detail is amazing.

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I wanted to pair the dress with some wood accessories. I slipped on this Scrabble Ring for a fun solution. If I was a pumpkin latte kind of gal, I would happily drink it in this dress. This dress screams, “fall!”, with its orange and mustard accents.

Alas, I am allergic to pumpkin. So, I will have to get by just wearing the color.

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I will somehow manage to get through the autumn with regular ol’ coffee.

And closeups of my thirty seven year old face.

Somehow.

The secret is in the sauce a little thing I am grateful to not be allergic to, wine.

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Did you notice something amiss in the previous closeup picture? Something that did not look right?

Was it a bit creepy?

Was it my elbow?

I am double jointed in my elbows, so sometimes in pictures like those it looks as though my head should be flipped the other way.

Just give it time.

Halloween is coming up.

With pumpkins. And closeups. And weird elbows.

And wine.

It’s enough to make a girl’s head spin. What is making your head spin lately? I am definitely craning my head towards this dress. Are you double jointed? I only have it in my elbows and my thumbs…

And my mind.

Past Cards: I’m Still Waiting For That Letter that ancer

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I like to share my collection of vintage postcards here. I have not done one of these posts in awhile and I figured it was time again (other past card posts here and here).

It seems throughout time there have been unanswered lovers and letters.

When I saw this post card, I knew I wanted to own it. It combined both of the above. This is what it says:

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“hellow Jettie

Say I would like to no the reason I havent never got my ancer from my letter
Looks like you wood ancer
do so at once
ha ha
So good By

a Friend R”

I cringe at the grammatical errors, however, the postcard was sent in 1912 from a rural Kentucky town with a population of less than a 1,000. There were probably not a great many schools to choose from and a lot of hard work to be had.

The post card makes me sad. Sometimes it makes me wonder. Did the girl respond to the boy? Did they get married? Could I send this postcard to their children? What happened to the two individuals so long ago?

I wondered so much about this postcard that I did some research into the name that the card was addressed to. It seemed curious to me that if the girl in question did not want to answer the boy, then why would she keep the post card all of those years? Why not throw the card away? If she had thrown the card away, then I never would have purchased it. And I would not have looked up the girl to find her fate.

The woman who received this postcard was eighteen when it arrived in her mailbox. Her name was Jettie. I find that I like that name.

This is what I learned about Jettie:

She never married.
She lived near a railroad.
Her family were farmers.
Her occupation is unlisted, so I assume she did not have one.
She passed away at the age of 59 in her home she shared with her sister.
She was buried in the family cemetery.
A Kentucky census listed her age as 19 in the year of 1910, but she was born in 1894, so the census was incorrect.
She was an Aquarius.

I wonder if the boy waiting for his ancer ever received one. If he did, it is obvious, it was not the one that he had been hoping for.

Did he ever marry? Did he attend Jettie’s funeral? What made Jettie keep the postcard all of those years (neither her, nor her three siblings, ever married. There has to be a story there. And I assume the possessions, including this post card, were sold or donated after the last sibling’s death by a distant relative or by the state)?

When I began researching this story, I had hoped for a better ending. One in which the boy won the girl over with a relentless stream of letters.

But maybe Jettie liked being independent. Or maybe she tossed and turned dreaming about the boy in another town as the train rumbled on the track and shook her bedpost so that it tapped against the wall in the exact rhythm of her heart. Or maybe she lost no sleep at all.

I, myself, toss and turn. And I wonder.

Oiseau Maxi Dress

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I fell in love with Anthropologie’s Oiseau Maxi Dress as soon as it came out (this keeps popping back in stock. With the 25% off sale, you might be able to call and find it in a store). The bold graphic bird print reminded me of one of my favorite dresses (ironically never shown on this blog), the Indigo Shoal Dress.

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However, as much as I loved the idea of it, I knew I would never wear it without having to have some sort of coverage on my arms. The straps were just too thin for my comfort level.

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It finally went on sale and miraculously enough, it also happened to be during Anthropologie’s extra 20% off sale price promotion.

I swooped in and grabbed it.

The dramatic ruffled bottom was such an unexpected, sweet surprise.

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Because it was September and the end of summer, I did not want to wear it with a denim jacket as I had planned. Instead I borrowed my daughter’s Forever 21 Cardigan.

One of the great things about having a teenage daughter is borrowing her stuff.

One of the not so great things? The borrowing goes both ways.

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I had no idea what Oiseau meant when I purchased the dress.

Do you?

Want to take a guess?

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It is French for “bird.”

Doh.

I probably should have made that deduction.

What kind of birds or Oiseaus would you say these are?

I am really unsure about the answer. I just know I like them.

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Do you own any animal print dresses?

I believe I own four.

I could be wrong.

Sometimes it feels as though my brain has flown the coop. It needs to come home to roost. That would make me happy as a lark.

Groan. Sorry about the idioms. I really need to quit them cold turkey.

P.S. * I shared this on The Pleated Poppy!

*this post was edited using VSCO’s C1 filter at level 3 and contrast at level 1.

It’s The Little Things: The Sweetest Embroidered Hooks

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Sometime in August, Anthropologie sent me a 20% off code to use in their store for completing a survey they sent me. I spotted these embroidered hooks and I knew they would be perfect towel holders in my Otomi inspired bathroom. I like to mix quirky embroidered pieces with the animal patterned walls.

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I purchased three out of the four. They arrived and were smaller than I had anticipated. But I loved them so much. Here is a quarter next to them so you can get a good idea of the size.

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We had to buy the screws for them. They did not come with any.

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I think they really complete the bathroom. They make me ridiculously happy.

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They might, perhaps, be my most favorite things I have ever purchased from Anthropologie. And that is saying a lot. They are vintage looking. Outlandish. Fun. And completely go with our house.

I think I would have to fight Phoebe from Friends for them.

I would win.

And Monica would have to clean up the mess.

Then Joey would come up to me and say, “How you doin’?” And I would forget all about my perfect hooks. Which is just what Rachael was hoping for.

Could that be any more accurate?

Ahem.

It’s the little things: finding the perfect small little thing to complete a room. Or just small fuzzy animal faces. They would make anyone happy.

Even Ross.

Have you added anything small to your home lately? Do you have any embroidered pieces? Please share. I would love to hear about it. Don’t worry about Phoebe trying to steal them. I’ve got your back… “I’ll be there for you.”